Great Camera!

I bought the GS200 in August from Digital Megastore for $815 + shipping. I have been very happy with my purchase.

The GS200 has the following features:
- 3 CCDs, which produce great colors.
- A manual focus ring.
- Manual shutter, white balance, and "aperture" controls via menus (I found them easy to master).
- A 2.3 megapixel camera with a flash (outdoor pictures are okay, but indoor pictures are poor).
- A hot shoe, but does not come with a video light like lower-end Panasonic cameras.
- The usual array of digital features that are of dubious value (especially if you own decent video-editing software): visual effects, windcut, digital zoom, etc.).
- A remote control (wireless) and a wired remote that doubles as an external microphone.


PICTURE QUALITY/COLOR: I am very pleased with the picture resolution and color. In lower-light conditions, the color isn't much better than other cameras; however, when you have good light, the picture is impressive for a consumer-level camera. When comparing footage to my older Panasonic DV102, I found that in good light (even daylight through windows indoors), the GS200 was the clear winner. However, at dusk, it is more difficult to tell footage from the two cameras apart. In fact, in one scene filming across a yellow field at dusk, my brother and I thought the colors from the DV102 were more accurate.

LOW-LIGHT CONDITIONS: I have never owned a Sony, but I understand that they take excellent footage in low-light conditions. Sony people seem disappointed when looking at Panasonic footage filmed in low-light conditions. However, having been a Panasonic user, I am please with the camera's indoor footage.
--Regular Indoor Lighting at Night: My DV102 took very grainy footage indoors under tungsten light so I have been happy with the non-grainy footage that my GS200 takes.
--Outdoor with Street Lights & City Lights: The GS200 also takes much better footage outdoors at night than the DV102, but of course manual focus is often needed (and it does look grainy). I was up in a high-rise in Waikiki trying to get shots of the skyline at night. The image wasn't worth salvaging, but it may have been if I had used the manual controls. (I filmed on full auto because I had just purchased the camera and had left the instruction manual at home. Learning to use the manual controls other than the focus is not intuitive). On the street near the hotel lobby, I filmed my rental car at night. The image was grainy, but was salvageable. Once again, it may have been better with manual controls if I had known how to use them.
--Low-light features: The Panasonic miniDV cameras have some low-light features, which are nearly worthless in my opinion. Do not buy the camera because of these features.
--Summary: You will read that Panasonic cameras do poorly in low-light conditions. This is true outdoors at night or in very low-light conditions. Indoors; however, with normal lights and lamps turned on indoors at night, the GS200 does just fine. Maybe I would not be pleased with its indoor abilities if I had owned a Sony.

IMAGE STABILIZATION (ELECTRONIC ONLY): It is better than on my old DV-102, but it isn't terrific. I only tried it briefly in good daylight and did not notice the quality loss that occurs in the DV-102 when image stabilization is used.
In July 2004 when I was shopping around for a camera, there was some confusion about whether or not the camera had optical image stabilization. I have some literature that says that it does have optical and other literature that says that it does not. I called Panasonic to ask before buying it, and they said that it does, but there are not controls for it or any manufacturer-produced advertisement for it. On the GS-400, it says "Mega Image Stabilization" right on it.
As much as I like my GS-200, I feel ripped off in this aspect because it turns out that not only does it not have image stabilization, the stabilization that they were referring to (that the GS-400 does have) is only for STILL images. One of my requirements for a camera is that it had optical image stabilization.
By the way, I understand that the Sony's have excellent image stabilization (even the electronic).

AUDIO: The camera records great audio. It sounds like you are really there, and the zoom-microphone feature works really well. The GS-200 comes with a wired remote control that includes a microphone. It works really well for interviewing people. You have to remember not to change between it and the camera's main microphone in the middle of a scene, however, because difference in audio is too obvious.

STILL CAMERA: I have not been happy with the still camera. The picture quality in good light (outdoors on a sunny day) is only mediocre, and indoors the quality is terrible. The pictures seem to really have a purple hue (indoors), and the built-in flash over flashes. I'm still experimenting with the flash, but so far the results are not good. Don't buy the GS200 for its still camera.